Playing Politics – Warfare in Virtual Worlds
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1 Playing politics – warfare in virtual worlds Robert John Young Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Politics and International Studies May 2018 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement The right of Robert John Young to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. 3 Acknowledgements So who knew that these would be the most difficult words to put down on the page? Thank you to everyone who has helped in the completion of this process – I’m so grateful for you all! Particular thanks to my two supervisors, Dr Nick Robinson and Professor Graeme Davies, whose continuing advice and guidance has been invaluable. My thanks also to Dr Brad Evans, for his contribution to the early stages of this process. Thanks to my parents, and my brother, for their support throughout this process. To Susanne, without whom this process could never even have begun, thank you for your faith in me! Thank you also to my fellow Planeswalkers – may you never need to mulligan again! Particular thanks to James and Sam, for your continued friendship and support over the years. Also to Kristen, for her advice and insightful critique! Thanks also to Tom! Looks like we did make it through this! To my customers and colleagues at Co-Op Roundhay, many of whom have served as the guinea-pigs for new ideas and arguments - thank you for your continued interest and support! In memory of Jean, who would have been as thrilled as anyone to see this day finally arrive. Thanks to few furry friends too: Bitteyface, Oddball, Pudding and Rufus. Also Sammy – I miss you *scritches* This thesis is dedicated to Sonja, whose incredible love and support has been a constant source of strength throughout this process. None of this would been possible without you. I love you! x 4 Abstract Recent academic scholarship has resulted in the production of a broad body of interdisciplinary research that explores the representation of different political and spatial phenomena within popular culture, often focussed upon the analysis of film and television. Whilst video games now rival the popularity of these more established media forms, the different spaces that are represented within this medium have remained comparatively under-explored. This thesis addresses this lacuna and will show that military-themed video games are constitutive of particular spatial and political imaginaries, and that analyses of the medium can be used to illuminate broader critical debates. Such an engagement makes three specific contributions to knowledge. Firstly, a theoretical contribution is made through the increasing imbrication of approaches originating within International Relations and critical geopolitics. Whilst the former field addresses the relationship between political theory and popular culture, critical geopolitical analyses examine the process through which the surrounding world is spatialized. In offering an interdisciplinary perspective, therefore, this analysis highlights not only the production of a form of political power, but also the everyday mechanisms through which the associated assumptions, biases and cultural tropes are reproduced as commonsense spatial “knowledge”. Secondly, a methodological contribution is achieved through the provision of a framework for an object-focussed analysis of the video game medium. This approach, which encompasses both structural and thematic aspects, addresses the limitations that are associated with exclusively ludological or narratological approaches and provides an important middle ground. Finally, an empirical contribution is achieved through the detailed examination of the urban, rural and temporally-inflected forms of spatiality that are represented within military-themed video games. Here, a focus on twelve high-profile video game titles is used to highlight the ways in which the medium can work to produce or preclude different geopolitical imaginaries. The video game world is shown to be a source of political meaning – one which is used to naturalise different claims about the “reality” of our contemporary geopolitical experience, including what the world looks like and what our place within it might be. These analyses are also shown to provide a means by which it is made possible to illuminate – and even destabilise – the foundations of prevailing critical frameworks, offering the potential for introspection and future growth. 5 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 3 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 4 TABLE OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER ONE: GOING CULTURAL ............................................................................................... 11 1.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 11 1.2 PLAYING GAMES ........................................................................................................................ 15 1.3 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................... 18 1.4 THESIS STRUCTURE AND CHAPTER OUTLINES .................................................................................. 23 1.4.1 Chapter Outlines ............................................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER TWO: POPULAR CULTURE, GEOPOLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS .................. 25 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 25 2.1 POPULAR CULTURE AND WORLD POLITICS (PCWP) ........................................................................ 26 2.1.1 Popular Culture as Data .................................................................................................... 28 2.1.2 Politics and Popular Culture .............................................................................................. 29 2.1.3 Popular Culture as Reflective ............................................................................................ 31 2.1.4 Popular Culture as Constitutive ........................................................................................ 35 2.1.5 Importing IR Frameworks .................................................................................................. 37 2.2 GEOPOLITICS............................................................................................................................. 40 2.2.1 Classical Geopolitics .......................................................................................................... 40 2.2.2 Critical Geopolitics ............................................................................................................ 42 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 52 CHAPTER THREE: MAKING SPACE ............................................................................................... 55 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 55 3.1 PRODUCING NATIONAL SPACE: MONUMENTS AND THE MUNDANE ................................................... 56 3.1.1 Monuments and Collective National Identity ................................................................... 57 3.1.2 Hunting Ghosts? Everyday Encounters with the Mundane Landscape ............................ 65 3.2 REPRESENTING RURAL SPACE ...................................................................................................... 73 3.2.1. The Rural Idyll and the Backwoods: Opposing Imaginaries of Rural Life .......................... 76 3.2.2. The Wilderness .................................................................................................................. 85 3.2.3. Analysing Rural Space through Military-Themed Video Games ....................................... 90 6 3.3 MAKING TIME? UNDERSTANDING THE “EVENT” ............................................................................. 91 3.3.1 Popular Culture and Remediation ..................................................................................... 93 3.3.2 Popular Culture, Remediation and the 9-11 Attacks ........................................................ 97 3.3.3 Analysing the Production of the “Event” through Military-Themed Video Games ........ 103 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................... 104 CHAPTER FOUR: PLAYING GAMES? TOWARDS METHOD ........................................................... 105 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................